Since '02 xBhp is different things to different people. From a close knit national community of bikers to India's only motorcycling lifestyle magazine and a place to make like minded biker friends. We have one common religion - Bikeism.

The plan was to start from Avadi by Wednesday night and reach Ambur before midnight So we can start the next day fresh, As planned all six riders assembled in Viveks house by 8:30pm but suddenly it started raining, We had no choice and left Avadi by 10:30pm.

Filled our tanks and started off from Avadi but before reaching Poonamallee a R15 met up with an accident by a truck during overtaking, Had to stop there and help him, he seems to be a cameraman returning from a shoot as he carried camera kits, He had minimal scratches in his knees and elbows but his R15...Man the front fairing is totally damaged which must need a replacement and the rear fenders also cracked. Called his friend and admitted him in a nearby hospital, That is where i left my camera. We have no idea that we had left our camera back in the hospital until reaching Ambur.

Reached Ambur by 4am Thursday morning, as it is already early in the morning we cant go to my house in Ambur and disturb them. Though we had tents we looked for shelter nearby as it is already getting late and we have to start by 10am to reach Valparai as planned, Parked our vehicles in Ambur railway station and went in to ask some shelter, The station master was kind enough to hand over us the waiting room key and asked us to sleep there and move before 7am as the shift changes.

The announcement sound didn't let us sleep but somehow we had slept for 2 hours and woke up by 6:30am and called my brother to collect the camera from the hospital reception, Luckily the hospital staffs had secured it. Went to my home took bath, had breakfast and started from Ambur by 10:30am.

The boys posing

Day 2: Ambur to Aliyar (Thursday - 31/08/2017)

We planned to reach Valparai by night but we were in pollachi by 8:00pm and the locals were advising us not to climb valparai tonight as it is misty all the way and there was a elephant in town for past few days and asked us to go to Aliyar Dam and pitch our tent.

Before that we stopped for taking pictures somewhere near Pollachi where there are wind mills all over, Suddenly a scorpio stopped near us and one uncle came down to enquire us whether we are from Chennai, He seems to have stopped by looking in our number plates, and asked us whether we need any help, we without any hesitation enquired him about pitching a tent in Valparai, He made some calls and asked us to use the name "Shadiq Basha" and left, we named him Manidha Kadavul(Human God), as he suddenly appeared from nowhere and helped us voluntarily and disappeared.

As per the locals advice we decided to go to Aliyar dam and asked the forest officer in check post about pitching a tent somewhere, he refused to allow us to camp inside the forest as it is dangerous and insisted us to use the park nearby, it was dark all over the park and we used our headlight to pitch the tent. Sooner then someone arrived in a TVS XL and asked us to vacate the place as it is very dangerous to sleep there, He showed us the foot prints of Bison and elephant all over the park and informed us that wild animals are roaming here. We requested him for some other place but he was resisting us to camp and asked us to stay below the Dam. Suddenly the manidha kadavul's reference struck and we used the name Shadiq Basha, Only then he allowed us to stay near the forest bungalow in the Aliyar Dam (Which is a favorite shooting destination for tamil cinema). He allowed us to use the Bungalow bathroom and we started chatting with him as he is the only one in-charge of the bungalow, he told us about the movies which was shot here and shared his experience. We went to sleep by 11pm after charging our mobile phones.

Vivek Posing

Day 3: Aliyar to Athirappilly (Friday - 01/09/2017)

We woke up the next day with a picturesque view of the Dam, western ghats, Coconut farm, sunrise. Took some pictures, Thanked him and started off to athirappilly. Took bath in monkey falls which is 5 kms from Aliyar Dam and reached valparai by 11am and had our breakfast and stated moving to athirappilly, My karizma performed very well in the corners and mountains even though Filkhan is my pillion (Filkhan is the heaviest person in our set). The road from Valparai to Athirappilly is fascinating as it is a forest road. After some kilometers Filkhan started riding my karizma and I somehow knew that we will fall somewhere as he has no experience in riding in mountains and doing corners, He used to brake in the corners which is very dangerous and we fell down somewhere where there is no one around us as the fellow riders went and we are behind them. The fairings had some scratches and filkhan seems to had some injuries in his knee, nothing big and we started to Athiappilly.

View from the Dam

Aliyar Dam

The boys posing

Via Valparai

Valparai Tea Estates

Somewhere Near Athirappilly

The boys posing

Reached athirappilly by 4:30pm, parked our vehicles, got the passes and started walking to the falls, The top view of the falls is pleasing as it rained the falls had more water flow. We stared trekking down the falls and wow the falls is tremendous from that view. Had met filkhan's neighbor there who is a malayali and was there for onam holidays. As it is already getting late we started off moving to Angamaly and reached there by 9pm had our dinned in a dhaba nearby, asked the dhaba owners about rooms as it is raining heavily and we cant pitch a tent. he allowed us to stay in the next building which is tailor shop. we charged our phone in the dhaba and chatted with him for sometime and went to sleep. Early morning by 5am one malayali family waked us and asked us to sleep in the next shop. They are the owners of that tailor shop and as it is onam they are in busy schedule, which made them to open the shop such early, they were very polite and very kind and even closed their shutter as it will disturb us. Myself, vinoth and filkhan left the place in search of a tea shop and bathroom as others slept. We found a tea shop nearby and used their bathroom.

We initially had planned Vagamon but the weather conditions were not favor and we changed our mind to Cochin.

Yes, the roads between Athirappilly and Valparai are mesmerizing to say the least (can get scary at times too :P), climbing up at that hour to Valparai isn't something which is very safe mainly because of the mist as the visibility is almost next to "ZERO", back when I went on my southern ride in late June this year, to my unfortunate the water levels were very less, but you're photo's quenched my thirst, lovely pictures..

The weather conditions in Vagamon lead us to Cochin, this is my second visit and first time for the other boys to Cochin, They were very much excited to see Cochin as I had hyped that much, As Cochin is just 40kms away from Angamaly we reached there in 1.5 hours and straight away we went to fort Kochi, Which is the Scenic destination there, One can experience a little of Goa in Fort Kochi as it also has many beaches, Vintage streets and buildings, and there is a Vasco Da gama house in Fort Kochi, It is also said that he died in Kochi. Parked our vehicles in Fort Kochi beach and started to relax, as we were there by 10am shops were yet to open, After half an hour I can feel the real Kochi beach as the crowd started occupying the place and there were shops all over. We were there for a hour and left the beach after having a flavored sarbat.

Fort Kochi has a unknown but a famous hotel by the locals called Hotel Nooriya near Mattancherry, But our bad Luck it was the Bakrid season and the Hotel was closed, The Erachi soru there is very tasty which costs so little. We headed to Mattancherry palace(Aka Dutch palace), One can see many ancient potraits of Kerala and the Kerala Kings, The palace was donated by Portuguese as a gift to the Kerala King, Photography in the palace is prohibited. As it is onam season there were kerala girls all over and we were like..... Spent about one hour outside the palace just to witness the beautiful ladies. There is a market at the back side of the palace and we went shopping there, had lunch in a nearby hotel and roamed in the Jew Town(Spice destination of Kochi), The Paradesi Synagogue which is a Jewish Synagogue was closed and we cant experience it (It was closed last time too)

Took a ferry from Fort kochi to Vypin which is a less than 5 minutes ride and one can take his vehicle all along with him, The fare is 9 rupees for a bike with two persons. Reached Vypin and decided to leave Kochi.

Santa Cruz Basilica

Fort Kochi Beach

Chinese Fishing Nets

Burgher Street

Santa Cruz Basilica

Jew Town

Paradesi Synagogue

Wellington Island

Started Off from Kochi by evening to Coimbatore via Palakad. Hooo many roads were under construction in Palakad and it was patchy all over, sometimes the roads were diverted so we have to take the opposite road which becomes difficult as it was raining and high beam by the opposite vehicles, Vijay and filkhan were in a Thunderbird, Vivek and Vinoth in another Thunderbird, Me and Ruben in my Karizma. Witnessed an accident somewhere near Palakad, One lorry with three cars, the lorry driver is Tamil, and the car owners were Malayali's they were arguing and both have no idea what they were speaking, I somehow collected the statement from the lorry driver and managed to explain it to the car owners with my little known Malayalam, We have no idea about what caused the accident, just shared their views with each other and left the place as the police came over.

Road conditions became worse and we were riding blindly. Filkhan got hurt badly in his lower back as the Thunderbird is not enough for Vijay and Filkhan as both were heavy, Somehow managed to reach Coimbatore by late night and asked the cops about pitching a tent and they didn't allowed us to do one and asked us to find a lodge nearby, took a lodge which is a below average one and spent the night there.

Day 5: Coimbatore to Chennai (Sunday - 03/09/2017)

Woke Up to find out that Filkhan gave up, We tried our level best to convince him but he was not able to make a bike ride and opted for a train, as the trains were running full we booked him a Volvo from Coimbatore to Chennai, Had breakfast left Coimbatore by 11am and reached Chennai Before Filkhan.

Since '02 xBhp is different things to different people. From a close knit national community of bikers to India's only motorcycling lifestyle magazine and a place to make like minded biker friends. We have one common religion - Bikeism.